


Neither Rest Nor Sleep

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, periodic catatonia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-07 19:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17966786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "I’ve been mulling it over and I’ve decided that there’s no way Jack could have lived 300 years in isolation and emerge unscathed. Choice of disorder is up to the author, but just give me some Jack with obvious mental health problems. Maybe he talks to himself or inanimate objects, or has mood disorders, or kleptomania (the only way he could interact with humans). Or even post-movie, the others discover he has hallucinations of people that aren’t there, which is how he coped with being alone for so long, and that he thinks they’re hallucinations too."It’s hard to get a diagnosis when you’re totally alone, but Jack suffers from a form of periodic catatonia. Bunny learns about this by accident and tries to help in a couple of different ways.





	Neither Rest Nor Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr 6/25/2014.

It was late June, when Bunny first found Jack like that. He laid on the ground, slightly curled, his eyes open and staring at nothing. Around him, a border of frost made the undergrowth glitter when sunlight filtered through the trees. Bunny would have thought he was just relaxing in these woods—they were some of Bunny’s favorites, after all, and he liked visiting the summer wildflowers—but when he greeted Jack, he didn’t respond at all.  
  
“Jack?” Bunny said again, walking slowly toward him. It couldn’t be a problem with the heat, could it? Wasn’t Jack too powerful for that? “Jack, are you okay?” Let him tease him for sounding so concerned. It’d be an improvement over whatever this was.  
  
Bunny crouched down beside Jack, within his line of vision, but still he didn’t react. Bunny folded his arms and frowned. Under any other circumstance he’d feel comfortable giving Jack’s shoulder a shake to wake him up, but since he didn’t really seem to be asleep, he wasn’t sure if he should. Would it be safe? Maybe this was just something winter spirits did. He didn’t want to set off a blizzard by waking him up too early, or anything like that.  
  
Still, it didn’t seem right, leaving him in the open like this. Bunny asked some nearby plants to grow a shelter over Jack, and once they’d obliged, he found himself breathing easier. Jack would be safe for a while like that—probably until he woke up, in fact, whenever that might be. Bunny patted the top of the leafy dome that had grown over Jack and added just a touch of magic to make sure.  
  
***  
  
It was early September when Bunny found Jack like that again. “All right,” he said. “I know you weren’t in my first shelter when I checked in July. And I’m pretty sure that means you’re not aestivating. So I’m going to wait you out this time. An advantage of being so powerful, right?” He wished Jack would just come back with a retort, but he remained motionless while Bunny grew a new shelter around him, this one studded with bright orange dahlias.  
  
Two weeks later, Jack finally stirred. He stared up at the greenery around him, saying nothing, pushing himself to his hands and knees clumsily. When he noticed Bunny, he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. “Jack? Hey, it’s me. You okay?”  
  
“N—you—you—you’re still here?” Jack said muzzily.   
  
“Where would I have gone?” Bunny asked.  
  
“Ss—sometimes when I wake up—sometimes.” Jack maneuvered himself into a cross-legged position and hung his head. “You built the other shelter, too. Wish you didn’t see me like that.”  
  
Bunny sighed. “Like what, Frostbite?”  
  
Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not sleeping. I don’t remember when it started. Thought it wouldn’t happen anymore, now that I’m a Guardian. How can I be a Guardian if I just—turn off—for weeks and weeks. Once it was years.”  
  
“Hey. You’re still a Guardian. You can’t back out now.” Bunny smiled.  
  
Jack smiled back. “I guess this must be real, then. When I wake up and it’s not really you I see, you’re not so nice.”  
  
Bunny laughed a little. “Guess I’ve still got a lot to make up for. And so, Jack: can you tell when this is going to happen? Was that why you ended up near where I might be?”  
  
“I thought being around people might make it not happen,” Jack said. “Looks like I was wrong.”  
  
Bunny paused. “You want to test that, though? I mean…even if it did happen, we wouldn’t lose you.”  
  
“You don’t want to lose me?”  
  
“Only if we’re racing,” Bunny said. The smile on Jack’s face was definitely worth the two-week wait.


End file.
